Direct Relief Extends Emergency Aid to India

Direct Relief today extended an offer of assistance to two partners in India, where devastating flooding has left 2.5 million people homeless in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka States in the south. News reports indicate that government emergency relief efforts are underway to assist stranded villagers, and health officials are working to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.

On news of flooding, Direct Relief’s Asia program officer contacted Amrita Institute of Medical Science (AIMS) and Sri Sathya Sai, two partners especially well equipped to help flood survivors, and will direct emergency aid according to needs they specify.

Direct Relief has supported AIMS’s work since 2004, including funding a technically sophisticated telemedicine van that enables AIMS to provide high-level care to remote populations. During emergencies, AIMS transports the telemedicine van to camps for internally displaced people, where it provides everything from primary care to complex diagnosis via a satellite transmission of data and video conferencing to its main hospital.

The Sri Sathya Sai Medical Trust, headquartered in Andhra Pradesh, operates general hospitals and state-of-the-art, super-specialty hospitals in the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the two flooded states, as well as a mobile hospital in Andhra Pradesh. Sri Sathya Sai provides care at no cost to patients, and has treated more than 4 million people in its general hospitals alone since its founding.